The best limescale inhibitor?
An admittedly rather biased look at the types of water ‘conditioners’ and limescale
inhibitors available, from the smoke’n’mirrors stuff to what really works. Rule number
one is DO NOT buy any limescale inhibitor where the ad/website says “water softener”
when it clearly isn’t actually an ion-
You may also be aware that many websites (when you do a search) show ‘Guarantee’
in their blurb. What is their guarantee -
Remember, when we say “in our experience”...
it really is in over 40 years of experience
So, what is hard water?
Rain droplets absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and become a very weak acid...
When this water hits rock, like limestone, it becomes super saturated in metal ions
like calcium and magnesium. This stays in the water in solution -
This is a problem for ‘boilers’ and water heaters in areas of the country where limescale forms...
.
Hard water is a serious problem because it’s a great insulator of heat -
It will also cause the failure of expensive water heating equipment in homes and commercial properties. So it’s a serious, costly problem. Many years ago, a man called Emmett Culligan was credited with inventing the first practical use of a water softener. Water softeners really do work, they take limescale out. However, their disadvantage is that they are bulky, expensive, use lots of water when backflushing (every week), and obviously use quite a lot of salt (which used to be cheap, but is no longer!).
Therefore, a different approach is needed. What if we don’t soften the water (because actually hard water is good for your health), but just stop the calcium from sticking?
We are plumbers. We have been doing ‘plumbing’ for over 40 years, and right in the middle of a hard water area, the Thames Valley. We’ve seen LOTS of limescale. We have chiselled it out of boilers at Reading Football Club back in 1976! We have vacuumed it out of industrial water heaters in hotels. We have dissolved tons of it in acid for three decades now.
However, we did spot that whenever we came across a plumbing installation that had
no limescale, a ‘water conditioner’ was present that was using silicate-
Over the years, we have heard about every idea for stopping limescale, from magnets to fancy new ways. But we haven’t found that ANY OF THEM work. We’re not saying they don’t work (well, perhaps we are) but we are saying that we have absolutely no evidence of any of them working...none. Yes, we’ve read all the claims, but still no evidence.
‘Limescale inhibitors’ are split into two groups:
Chemical devices -
The definitions sound obvious, but we’ll go there anyway. A chemical device uses
a material to dose the water, or do something to the water, physically -
Again, don’t think that adding chemicals is a bad thing, as the water companies have added enough of them, anyway!
So, there are also non-
LET’S BE CLEAR: If we found a non-
The answer is NO. No manufacturer of a NCD will give you your money back.
Now, to us, that says everything. Why on earth would you buy it? Lots of claims are made, and manufacturers of such devices give you an impressive list of their customers, such as giant retail outlets, or even NASA. But when you contact these companies, they can’t verify the claims made. We heard of one limescale device company claiming that Coca Cola were one of their customers. So we phoned Coca Cola, and they didn’t know what we were talking about. The operator stated that the company is vast and employs almost 62,000 people, she didn’t have a clue where to start asking.
So what about chemical devices -
We’re not scientists, we’re plumbers. As we said, all we can give you is the benefit
of our 40 years of experience of seeing hot water equipment right smack in the middle
of a limescale hotspot of the UK. We have only ever found two things that really
do work at stopping limescale: water softeners and silicate-
Now, it is true that from time to time we hear of the claims of new devices, and we check them out, maybe even trial them. Still, after all these years, we haven’t found any that work. It would make our job of selling such things much easier if we did!
So, a look at the various methods of halting limescale -
Magnetic
Most magnetic water conditioners simply have a mild magnetic field close to the water supply pipe. This is said (by manufacturers of these units) to induce a molecular change to the calcium salts. Such units are usually (but not always!) inexpensive, easy to fit, and require no electrical supply. Some types use a very cheap ceramic magnet. However, it is obviously clear that a weak magnetic field would NOT be effective. The magnetic field on passing water would have to be very strong.
In our experience, do they work?
NO...BUT we understand that some people have stated a difference, and some just want to comply with Part L of the Building Regulations. For that reason, we manufactured our own (with strong magnets) the LimeStop M.
Electrolytic
An electrolytic ‘water conditioner’ is supposed to work by the use of dissimilar
metals placed in the flow of water, being electrically connected. In the presence
of water (an electrolyte) a ‘LeClanché’ (battery) cell is achieved. The metals develop
an electro-
In our experience, do they work?
NO.
Electronic
The electronic limescale inhibitor is meant to work by using a high frequency signal
generator (0.5 -
In our experience, do they work?
NO.
Phosphate
Phosphate limescale inhibitors usually require a changeable cartridge with a dosing
valve fitted. The idea is that water will flow partly through the unit and thus be
dosed with phosphate particles. This is meant to suspend the calcium particles. Unfortunately,
the dosing valve becomes clogged with phosphate very quickly after fitting -
In our experience, do they work?
NO.
Aqua Conditioners
These use a bed of resin in a chamber about the same size and shape as a scuba-
In our experience, do they work?
NO.
Silicate-
‘Siliphos’ is a widely-
In our experience, do they work?
YES.
Water softeners
A softener simply removes calcium ions, and replaces them with sodium (salt) ones.
Such units are expensive to purchase and install. Artificially-
In our experience, do they work?
YES.
We cannot make this any simpler: Ask the supplier of your limescale inhibitor if
you can return the product after 10 years if your appliance ‘scales-
All our products in our LimeStop range use silicate-
Ideal for combination boilers. It is sometimes used by plumbers to protect electric showers and other small water heating appliances. It contains 600g of Siliphos, and comes complete with isolating valves for ease of replacement.
£85
2-
Simply a larger version of the 500, containing 800g of Siliphos – for complete home protection against limescale.
£89
2-
If you’re in any doubt as to which one is right for you, simply email us on info@scalgon.co.uk and we’ll put you right.
If a manufacturer of a limescale inhibitor or water/aqua conditioner won’t promise to give you your money back in 10 years’ time if you get limescale...
DON’T BUY IT!
DO NOT BUY a limescale inhibitor unless the makers will give you your money
back -
Look for this symbol here...
100% MONEY BACK
Just 10p a day
keeps limescale away!
“But I’ve heard that ‘this’ water conditioner has undergone trials and has accreditation”
So what? Trials mean nothing -
Some interesting reads:
Here’s one blurb we particularly enjoyed:
“Water is passed in a turbulent state over a very special metal alloy which alters the composition of the water near the alloy surface. This action changes the supersaturating ratio of the water and ensures that lime does not form hard lime scale.”
!
Watch out for this!
Because with limescale this ‘approval’ means absolutely ZERO!
WRAS is merely the approval of a water fitting, not whether it works or not! Be wary of any limescale inhibitor even displaying it.
You are strongly advised,
when reading the websites
of limescale inhibitor manufacturers, to have your BS detector turned up to maximum.
The saucepan test
We used to advise that you simply look in your kettle to see if you live in a hard
water area. However, many modern kettles are very good at keeping limescale at bay,
and some people use filtered water in their kettle, so you can’t get a proper indication
from the kettle anymore. So this is something we did years ago for a customer -